Community Supported Agriculuture
CSA: A Growing Movement
The Modern Take on Farming
Under the traditional system of farming, farmers often face hardships including weather pattern deviations, insects/pests, and marketing dilemmas. Under the CSA system of farming, the consequences of these hardships are less devastating for farmers because the "entire community shares both bounty and scarcity" (Community). Generally, families/individuals pay a membership fee to a farm at the beginning of the planting season. The membership fees that are paid to farmers help farmers stay economically stable and ease any burdens regarding weather or marketing troubles (Community). In return for paying a fee, individual/family "members" have access to the given farm's produce on a regular schedule (i.e. once a week).
A CSA farm's harvest
CSA farms range in size based on the size of the farms' membership constituents. Some CSA farms are supported by as few as 10 members or as many as 200 members (Community).
Picture retrieved 2013, Aug 19 from http://statebystategardening.com/enewsletters/2010-june/csa.php
Share Board
CSA farms have varying rules on how they distribute their harvest. Most farms have a schedule (i.e. once a week) and a system such as a 'share board' that restricts members' collection of their share of the week's harvest.
Picture retrieved 2013, Aug 19 from http://www.ci.oswego.or.us/luscher/47th-avenue-farm-community-supported-agriculture-csa
"Farmer's Market-in-a-Box"
Another system of distribution of harvests is the box system. The farms prepackage equal boxes to distribute shares of the harvests to each member shareholder.
Picture retrieved 2013, Aug 19 from http://www.pugetsoundfresh.org/csa.htm
Benefits of Community Supported Agriculture
There are numerous benefits of employing the CSA system in local communities:
ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS: Due to the close relationships between consumers and producers that CSA systems of farming foster, consumers can voice their concerns about the chemicals used on their food items. CSA farms are more likely to use organic herbicides and fertilizers than commercial farms (Community).
SOCIAL BENEFITS: Aside from the community building that occurs when producers and consumers are closely affiliated and cooperative, there are some notable social benefits to the implementation of CSA programs. Some CSA programs serve their communities by offering charity services such as donation of excess goods and offering jobs to the homeless community that resides within the larger community a specific CSA farm serves (Community).
Works Cited
"BGREEN IS LOCAL" Picture retrieved 2013, Aug 19 from http://blog.bloomberg.com/2011-08-11/bloomberg-launches-community-supported-agriculture-program-for-its-new-york-employees/
Community Supported Agriculture: Growing food...and Community (Research Brief #21). (1996, Oct.). Retrieved 2013, Aug 19 from http://www.cias.wisc.edu/farm-to-fork/community-supported-agriculture-growing-foodand-community/